Elephant Tales (2006) User Reviews

Good if your kids are very, very young and easily amused...

[kellytucson · 2/10 · 1 March 2009]

This movie tells the story about Tutu and his big brother Zef and their search for a new family once their mother goes to "the rainbow." Zef, being the older brother, doesn't want to tell Tutu the truth and tries to focus them on finding a new family and avoiding the "Badness." Along the way they meet many new animal friends that help them.

While I appreciated the use of live action as opposed to animation, it was just all too dopey and ridiculous to follow. The movie was unintentionally funny due to the strange choices of voices (we thought Tutu was a girl for the first 20-30 minutes)and the corny writing. For example, Tutu is obsessed about finding the rainbow and thinks anything multi-colored is a rainbow (hot air balloon, candy, etc.). Also, every animal they meet has lost their mother so every animal they meet gets depressed because they have no mother.

Perhaps if my kids were younger they would have bought the cheesy lines and dumb scenarios these animals got themselves into...we only watched the whole movie for the humor value at a certain point.

Two elephant brothers who are left orphaned seek out family.

[aerin_darque · 2/10 · 28 May 2009]

If you must watch this movie, do so with the sound off - and perhaps an assortment of music for background noise instead. The elephants are both supposed to be boys, yet the younger brother, TuTu, is obviously performed by a woman trying to sound like a child. The effect is exceptionally annoying. As if this were not bad enough, the dialogue is insufferable. The lines are both poorly written AND poorly delivered. The story is narrated by two cheetahs who at least attempt to sound African, but all other roles are done in various accents - none of them consistent or ethnic. The overall result is campy at best. If my two year old hadn't been interested, I would have turned it off. As it was, my ten year old, eleven year old, my spouse and myself had to leave the room before the movie was part over. Toddlers and preschoolers may enjoy it. Perhaps even kindergartners. Any one over age five should either steer clear, or listen to their ipod in lieu of the movie sound.

If I was four and undemanding I would have loved this

[dbborroughs · 3/10 · 31 January 2009]

Stunningly beautiful nature film about elephants trying to rescue their kidnapped family.

Cute to a point but the film's ability to entertain you will depend on whether or not you can stomach the voice over voices given to all of the animals. The voices have been laid over the animals natural sounds so we can hear the voices and their real sounds, its not well done. It might have worked had the script been a little more intelligent and not aimed at the lowest possible age group. Its the sort of thing that is gang busters if you're four or five, but any if you're older its an endurance test.

Thank god I wasn't watching this with a rug rat cause I could turn it off, which I did after about 45 minutes.

3 out of 10 for the great pictures.

Quality Family Film

[yellowstonegirl · 8/10 · 15 April 2009]

I thought this was a cute movie. Granted it's not high cinema, but if you like animals, seeing gorgeous scenery and are interested in conservation I thought it was a fun movie to watch. I enjoyed seeing the baby lion, cheetahs, elephants, and giraffe. It offers a good point about the 'badness' of poaching and is great for young kids. The plot was simple enough to follow, but had enough depth to build a connection with the characters. It reminded me a little bit of Milo and Otis. I know a lot of people have said on the boards they got bored, but if you enjoy seeing animals on screen in a natural setting it's worth the 96 minutes of your time (especially if you have kids). I think the company who filmed this did a very good job showcasing South Africa. It was good to show the poachers actions as wrong, but also showing that we as humans have a chance to really help save animals such as the Elephants, Chimpanzees, Lions, Cheetah's, Giraffes, etc...In addition to this film I also recommend Duma

A different way shows a different point of view! Fantastic!

[RJGomes · 8/10 · 8 December 2008]

I love movies, I need to see a movie each day to can say that it worth's the awakening...

Of course I have my favourite kind of motion picture, of course this one wasn't one of those, but, in fact, I rarely find one that perfectly fits my preferences, so it wasn't only a surprise in that way, but it was a completely surprise at all.

I'd never seen a movie that compares to "Elephant Tales" and I suppose that I saw around 3.000, then I believe it creates a deferent style, a different genre, that in the next time will be improved and we can have a masterpiece soon.

Animal movies, there are thousands, but just a few are based in the animal point of view. If you want to see someone with this probably you need to watch an animated one, like "Bee Movie" or "Over the Edge".

Like I said, animal movies there are thousands, it's common to see them moving their mouth to speak or behave like natural actors, mostly of all thinking and acting as if they were humans... Forget it, there are no special effects in this one, if that's what you're searching for, then go and watch "Racing Stripes", "Stuart Little", "The Shaggy Dog" or the master "Babe".

In this movie animals were filmed naturally in their usual habitat, probably for hundred hours, and just for a few moments they were simply manipulated to do some uncomplicated movements, like a monkey opens a cage.

The purpose is to show to the world that our way of living is affecting theirs and the problems that the baby's find in their lives after losing his closest relatives.

I guess it's a movie for all family, but the kids under ten are the specific target. It was completely filmed live in South Africa, with Elephants, Lions, Cheetahs and Chimps, between many others. The animals just behave naturally and some voices show their way of thinking or communications.

To me, if I could, I prefer to watch it in the original language, but as it is a children's one, it's only available in the stores in Portuguese (as I'm a Portuguese guy), without subtitles. Probably, if seen with subtitles it was even better, in my point of view movies loses some quality when seen without the original voices and I'm grateful that in my country in rarely happens, even the animated movies.